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Contract labour on rise with IT firms in Bangalore

DNA / DNA Correspondent / Thursday, May 30, 2013 11:58 IST To tide over the slowdown, IT firms in the city are getting work done by contract workers. Earlier, a trend seen mostly with firms in manufacturing, the services sector is also fast opening to the concept of outsourcing functions to contract staff. At a time when companies are finding it tough to increase their employee costs, taking on contract workers to do the same job seems to be working better. Experts say a few IT firmsboth big and smallhave about 10-15% contract staff undertaking projects and work related to testing, technical support, etc. We have about 12-15% of our staff on contractual basis, says Pallab Bandyopadhyay, director of human resources at software firm Citrix Systems, which is based in Richmond Town. About 10% of our workforce comprises flexi-staff, says Anil DSouza, senior manager, global HR at IT infra firm Microland, based in Electronic City. Firms say having contract staff can help bring down expenditure by almost 15% since people costs associated with pay, insurance, provident fund etc are all taken care of by the vendors who provide the flexi-workers. Average starting pay for contract workers range from Rs 8,000 to Rs 10,000 per month. This is slightly lower than the monthly Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000, which an average IT professional who is on the payrolls of a tech-firm would draw. This is a time when the per-person revenue is crucial and headcount is actively monitored, says Bandyopadhyay. So, hiring and adding to employee costs becomes restricted. But since targets and goals are to be met, the requirement for talent continues to persist. Thus, on one hand we have pressure not to significantly increase headcount, but we have to simultaneously keep innovating and bringing out new technologies to the table as quickly as possible. This then calls for contract staff, says Bandyopadhyay. As the sector moves more towards cloud and virtualisation, the need for unique skill-sets has increased like never before. Thus, the demand for contract labour is being felt more now than say a few years ago, say experts. This demand will only increase going ahead, predicts Bandyopadhyay. Rise of contract workforce India has 1.3 million contract or flexi workforce. The number will rise to 90 lakh by 2025. Over 80% of flexi workforce is below 30 years. Graduates comprise 54% of the contract staff, with 17% being class 12 pass-outs. Rs 8,000-Rs 10,000 per month is the average starting salary of contract workers. Sales, delivery, support are functions that see lot of contract workers. URL of the article: http://www.dnaindia.com/bangalore/report_contract-labour-on-rise-with-it-firms-in-bangalore_1841408-all Permission to reprint or copy this article or photo must be obtained from www.dnasyndication.com

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